A national park in Door County?
For now, state and local parks dazzle visitors
Door County is a park-lovers paradise. ♦ And if one group has its way, it could get even better. ♦ The peninsula jutting out into Lake Michigan in northeastern Wisconsin is home to five state parks, 19 county parks and a handful of other natural and wildlife preserves that add up to more than 23,000 acres of land for public recreation. ♦ Soon it could also be home to a national park.
In 2014, a group formed to propose turning the Grand Traverse Islands into a national park. The archipelago of 17 islands in Lake Michigan stretches from the tip of the Door County peninsula north to Michigan's Garden Peninsula, and the proposed park would include many of them plus some land on the Door County mainland.
The islands and other land are part of the Niagara Escarpment, a dolomitic limestone rock ledge that runs from New York through Canada to Wisconsin. The islands also feature five historical lighthouses, American Indian archaeological sites and shipwrecks.
"To me, it's unbelievable to have such a large geologic formation in the U.S. that has no national anything. This is huge – it's over 500 miles worth of geologic formation. That alone to me is one very important reason to do it," said David Hayes, a member of the Friends of the Grand Traverse Islands, the group that put together the national park proposal.
It's hard not to draw similarities between the proposed park and the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, an archipelago of 21 islands in Lake Superior off the Bayfield Peninsula. Indeed, the park's original proposal used the Apostles as a reference point, and the group's chair, John Bacon, worked as a sea kayak guide in the Apostles and Door County. But Hayes stressed this park would be different because of the natural significance (and lack of current attention for) the Niagara Escarpment coupled with the area's human history.
"The other big thing is the neglect that's been put on all the lighthouses and the maritime history of the Great Lakes," he said.
For that reason, Hayes, who owns the Reynolds House Bed and Breakfast in Sturgeon Bay, thinks the park could be a landing spot for Great Lakes history, and its final name could reflect that.
I started my Door County road trip at what could be the future door to that national park, Potawatomi State Park.
The 1,200-acre park outside Sturgeon Bay is not officially part of the proposal, but it does include an exposed segment of the escarpment, visible along the Ice Age Trail, whose eastern terminus is in the park. Hayes thinks because the park includes the escarpment, it could be included in the park after the National Park Service studies the area.
At this point in the process, the proposal needs the support of a member of Congress to move forward. Hayes said their group has talked to the staffs of Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) and Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) and both are in support of the proposal.
From here, the representatives need to send a letter to the secretary of the interior requesting a special resource study of the area, to be conducted by the National Park Service. The study would review whether the area meets the requirements for national park status, which include its national significance, the feasibility of turning it into a national park (how much it would cost), and its suitability.
"That looks at, is the park service the best agency to manage the proposal?" Hayes said.
Hayes is confident the islands and Door County mainland acres in the proposal meet those requirements — the Niagara Escarpment certainly is significant; all of the proposed land is already in the public domain, saving money that would have been required to purchase private land; and the National Park Service would be better equipped to manage the islands' cultural resources than the federal agency that currently manage some of the land, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Hayes would know better than anyone about meeting those requirements — he used to work for the Park Service in Washington, D.C., reviewing these proposals.
Park hopping
From Potawatomi, I park-hopped north to Peninsula State Park, one of the crown jewels of the state park system and therefore one of its busiest parks.
It's easy to see why — the park is almost resortlike, with nearly 500 campsites, an outdoor theater, a golf course, swimming and boating from a sandy beach, more than 20 miles of bike trails and 20 miles of hiking trails, and easy access to Door County shops, restaurants and other activities in the nearby towns of Fish Creek and Ephraim.
Among the hiking trails in the park is the Eagle Trail, a challenging two-mile hike up and down the escarpment. The trail passes its blocky, 150-foot limestone cliffs along their base and includes a look at a handful of caves and passageways along the route.
Despite the busyness of the park — it sees more than 1 million visitors each year — I had the trail to myself on an early morning hike during the week. I was also able to nab a walk-up campsite for two nights — a feat not usually possible on a summer weekend.
Two state parks down, it was time to island hop. From Fish Creek, a friend and I drove north through the quintessentially quaint Door County towns of Ephraim, Sister Bay, Ellison Bay and Gills Rock. The crowds thin as you move north along the peninsula — stay in one of those cities (or on the eastern side) if you're looking for a quieter experience in the summer.
In Northport, we unloaded our bikes from the car and caught the Washington Island Ferry across Death's Door to the island.
The ferry passed to the west of Plum Island, which the U.S. Coast Guard passed control of to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2007, when it became part of the Green Bay National Wildlife Refuge. In conjunction with a friends group, a dock was repaired on the island's north end and in 2015 it was opened to the public for hiking from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day.
The island features a Duluth-style lifesaving station (lighthouse) built in 1896. It's the last Duluth-style station left on the Great Lakes, but it is in need of restoration — something that's not part of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife's mission, but would fall under the National Park Service's domain were it to become a park.
Visitors can take private boats like kayaks or charters with a special use permit to the island, which is part of the Lake Michigan Water Trail. A two-mile hiking trail travels its circumference.
The island, like all of the land part of the national park proposal, is already in the public domain.
"What makes this proposal so incredibly unique — I've never seen it before in the years that I was reviewing proposals — is that it's not requiring any private land," Hayes said. "This is just taking either already designated federal lands, state lands, county lands, municipal lands that are already out of the tax base."
The entirety of Washington Island is not part of the proposal, but Jackson Harbor Ridges State Natural Area is. The small natural area on the northeast side of the island features 12 sandy ridges and swales along Lake Michigan facing Rock Island.
Rock Island, a 912-acre state park, is part of the proposal. The island park is only open to foot traffic and boasts backpacking campsites, hiking trails, the state's oldest lighthouse and a beautiful 19th-century stone boathouse. It's a prime kayaking destination, with just over a mile of water separating it from Washington Island. A small passenger ferry also carries traffic to the island in the summer.
Since we had spent most of the day biking around the low-traffic roads of Washington Island, including a stop at the beautiful white-stone Schoolhouse Beach, we didn't have time for a trip to Rock.
If you haven't been, however, make camping
reservations and spend at least a night there. It's a wonderfully remote and rustic state park with both natural and human history elements that make for a terrific day or weekend trip.
Parks and preserves
My final day on the peninsula was a true parka-palooza.
After a quick hike in Peninsula I got in some trail time at Door Bluff Headlands, a county park near the tip of the peninsula north of Ellison Bay. The park was blissfully quiet compared to the bustling Peninsula as I followed a two-mile trail on cliffs above the lake.
The small park is part of the national park proposal, as is Newport State Park across the peninsula. Newport, the state's only wilderness park, protects 11 miles of Lake Michigan shoreline. While higher lake levels have erased much of the beach there, a sliver still provides a spot to splash around in the chilly waters. Backpacking campsites are prime stargazing spots — the park is the state's only designated Dark Sky park.
After a quick tour of the Cana Island Lighthouse, I headed south into Baileys Harbor. The Ridges Sanctuary there is not part of the park proposal but is a remarkable private nature preserve with one of the best network of boardwalks I've ever hiked.
The boardwalks travel through a series of ridges and swales created by the changing Lake Michigan shoreline more than 1,000 years ago. The 1,600 acres of land the trust protects (spread across five parcels) also includes 25 native species of orchids and 60 breeding birds, 12 that are threatened or endangered. The boardwalks and trails that loop around the visitor center also pass by the Baileys Harbor Range Lights, two small lighthouses built in 1868 that are open for tours on weekends and Mondays in the summer.
The final two stops on my peninsula park tour were two of my favorites: Cave Point County Park and Whitefish Dunes State Park.
Neither is part of the park proposal, but they could be included based on the resources study. Both are popular and busy in the summer.
Cave Point features beautiful limestone cliffs and caves of the Niagara Escarpment. The white rocks give the chilly Lake Michigan waters a tropical hue and are a favorite for kayakers to explore.
Just to the south, Whitefish Dunes features a 1.5-mile sandy beach (including a pet swimming area) and more than 14 miles of hiking trails. The 2.8-mile Red Trail climbs up Old Baldy, the park's tallest sand dune at 93 feet.
My whirlwind park tour of Door County didn't leave a lot of time for exploring the peninsula's plentiful other attractions — from artist studios and performing arts venues to wineries.
I did manage to squeeze in a brewery visit, to Door County Brewing Co. in Baileys Harbor. Sitting outside next to the Chives food truck there, two women summed up Door County pretty well:
"There is a lot to do here," one said, noting on their next visit they had to make time for kayaking and biking.
"There is a lot to do here," her friend echoed emphatically.
And if the area gains national park status, there will be even more.